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Accusative Case in German

der Akkusativ

☰ List of all topics in the level A1

Level A1 Introduction Unit 1 Alphabet and pronunciation Unit 2 Diphthongs and constant combinations Unit 3 German nouns and their genders Unit 4 Articles in the nominative case Unit 5 Pronouns in the nominative case Unit 6 Verb sein in present Unit 7 Verb sein in imperfect Unit 8 Verb haben Unit 9 Present tense Unit 10 Modal Verbs Unit 11 Nominalization of verbs Unit 12 Adjective endings in nominative case Unit 13 Making plural nouns Unit 14 Numbers in German Unit 15 Accusative case Unit 16 Pronouns in accusative case Unit 17 Prepositions with accusative case Unit 18 Questions with interrogative pronouns Unit 19 Asking questions without interrogative pronouns

This lesson contains topics:

1. Revision of nominative case
2. What is Accusative case?
   1. Rules of declension
3. Articles in the accusative case
   1. Declension of definite articles in accusative case
   2. Declination of indefinite articles in accusative case
4. Indicators of quantity in German language

A little revision of the nominative case

Cases describe the grammatical role a noun or a pronoun plays in a sentence. We have already discussed a bit about cases in lesson 4 (Articles in the nominative case).
When a noun or pronoun functions as the subject of a sentence, it is classified as being in the nominative case. Certain verbs are exclusively used with the nominative case and do not require a direct object. For instance:

sein (to be). Er ist Arzt. (He is a doctor.)

heißen (to be called). Er heißt Doktor Müller. (His name is Doctor Müller.)

bleiben (to remain / to stay). Er bleibt immer glücklich. (He always remains happy.)

werden (to become). Sein sohn wird auch Arzt. (His son will also become a doctor.)

German accusative case

The accusative case is simply another name for the objective case. The accusative is the direct object. When a noun or pronoun functions as the direct object in a sentence, it is classified as being in the accusative case. For example:

You can ask questions using "what" or "whom" about the accusative case (direct object). Most of the verbs in German require a direct object. For instance, if you can recall most of the verbs from Lesson 9 (Present tense in German).

haben (to have)

wissen (to know)

brauchen (to need)

denken (to think)

machen (to do / to make)

studieren (to study)

essen (to eat)

sprechen (to speak)

All these verbs require a direct object (accusative). In German, they are called Verben mit Akkusativ (verbs that take direct objects).

Cases are important in German because pronouns and articles before nouns decline (change their endings) according to the case.

For example:
Dr. Müller sucht seinen Kuli. (Dr. Müller is looking for his pen.)
Dr. Müller sucht den Kuli. (Dr. Müller is looking for the pen.)
Der Kuli (pen) is a masculine noun, and masculine articles and pronouns decline in the accusative case (objective case).

Rules of declension

In articles, pronouns, and quantity indicators that exhibit declension, the rules of declension remain consistent across all three. In the accusative case, only the masculine ending transforms into "en," while all the other endings remain unchanged from the nominative case.

Articles in the accusative case

In lesson 4 (Articles in the Nominative Case), we have discussed that all articles, whether they are definite or indefinite, decline according to the grammatical case.

Declension of definite articles in the accusative case

In the accusative case, the masculine article “der” changes into “den”. The feminine article “die” and the neuter article “das” do not change. Similarly, the plural definite article “die” does not decline in the accusative case. For example:

Ich esse den Burger. (I eat /am eating the burger.)
“Der Burger” has changed to “den Burger”, because it is a direct object (in the accusative case) and a masculine noun. The article of the direct object "der" declines to "den".

See another example of a masculine noun:
Der Apfel (apple)
Ich esse den Apfel. (I eat / am eating the apple.)

Now recall the table we have discussed earlier:

In the examples above, the articles in "die Medikamente" and "das Auto" have not changed in the accusative case because "das Auto" is a neuter noun, and "die Medikamente" is a plural noun. Most of the verbs we have used in previous lessons, exercises, and examples take a direct object (Verben mit Akkusativ). However, we deliberately refrain from using masculine nouns.

Declination of indefinite articles in the accusative case

Only the masculine indefinite article “ein” declines to "einen". The rest of the articles remain the same.

Some examples are:

In lesson 4, we also covered that the word "kein" behaves similarly to the indefinite article. Therefore, in the accusative case, the declension of "kein" also mirrors that of the indefinite article. Specifically, when used with a masculine direct object, the word "kein" changes to "keinen."

For example:

Ich esse keinen Burger. (I do not eat a/any burger.)

Ich esse keinen Apfel. (I do not eat an/any apple.)

Herr Schäfer sucht keine Medikamente. (Mr. Shepherd is not looking for (any) medicines.)

Dr. Müller fährt kein Auto. (Dr. Müller does not drive a/any car.)

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